Recreational Reading Collections in Academic Libraries

Abstract

During times of increased competition for budget, staff, and space in academic libraries, providing a recreational reading collection for pleasure and current awareness can be seen as difficult to justify. Recent studies, including Reading at Risk, raise concerns about the literary reading practices of college students. A year after the creation of a recreational reading collection at the University of Northern Colorado Libraries, a preliminary survey was conducted to gauge reaction of college students to the availability of recreational reading materials in their academic library.